Extending The Digital EHS&S Platform for Covid-19 Response & Risk Mitigation

As the Covid-19 pandemic transitions worldwide to a focus on operational continuity, organizations increasingly need ways to manage and mitigate the risks from Covid-19 in the workplace. Gensuite, a configurable best practice, cloud-based software platform with a diverse subscriber group of nearly 300 companies and over a million global users, has adapted rapidly to meet the challenge. Chartered by an active subscriber collaboration workgroup, the Gensuite platform has now integrated Covid-19 response and contact tracing into its incident management module, leveraged its risk assessment module to enable critical PPE tracking, and initiated a pilot of in-app remote expert/auditor video collaboration capabilities, together with additional initiatives in progress. These rapid extensions demonstrate the value of implementing a robust and agile EHS&S digital management platform, one that can respond dynamically to new business risks and operational drivers.

The Gensuite Covid-19/Pandemic Module developed rapidly in March 2020 by leveraging the Gensuite incident management module, has now been deployed by over 60 subscribers enabling these organizations to respond, record, and manage possible or confirmed Covid-19 events in the workplace, with the capability to manage status, testing, contact tracing, off-work/quarantine periods and return to work target dates. Launched as a standard configuration upgrade included with the Gensuite service subscription, companies that have deployed the module have already tracked over 4,000 events, providing risk mitigation benefits to the workforce and immediate value to the enterprise. With the ability to track and report data in compliance with HIPPA and GDPR requirements, the module further enables health and safety professionals to use data visualizations to understand Covid-19 risks in their facilities. A number of Gensuite subscribers who have implemented the module have transitioned manual tracking through spreadsheets to the Gensuite solution, with impactful results.

Rob Somers, Director of EHS, Perrigo Company, a leading subscriber architect of the new module shared with other Gensuite subscribers in a workgroup call that, “When employees call off work, our HR Partners have a way to track symptoms, testing dates, and return-to-work dates. As their situation changes, our team can quickly update the number of days in quarantine, as well as criteria for returning to work in one single place. They can then pull reports to track data and share with leadership to make informed decisions for health and safety.”

In other successful and timely extensions of the Gensuite EHS&S platform, the new PPE Manager enables setup and tracking of inventory of Covid-19 critical PPE, with reporting insights for individual sites and across the enterprise; the integrated Survey solution enables open-access, QR-code enabled, contactless employee and visitor screening questionnaires to minimize Covid-19 risk exposures in workplaces; the new Ergo Evaluator enables safety leaders to provide remote workers with self-service ergonomics evaluation tools; and U Connect, a new peer-to-peer, in-app video collaboration tool will soon offer users in the field the option to connect directly with remote experts for enhanced audits, inspections, incident investigations, thus eliminating Covid-19 risks from travel. The strategic pivot in new functionality driven by subscribers of the Gensuite, recognizes that our pandemic-constrained world requires fundamental adjustments that can be well-served by the digital EHS&S platform.

Working Together to Chart the Path Forward

The Covid-19 Executive Collaboration LinkedIn Workgroup of EHS&S leaders and professionals facilitated by Gensuite has offered another valuable dimension for idea and experience sharing. The workgroup which met first in late March 2020, has now welcomed speakers from all industries and experts in topics from EHS&S to biosafety, with over 1,200 attendees over the past two months contributing to the dialogue. The workgroup has disseminated many helpful best practices and workplace solutions for managing and mitigating the pandemic and reopening business operations; is scheduled to meet weekly on Fridays through end of June (currently); and is open for sign-up on LinkedIn. Gensuite is committed to sharing the solutions developed on the platform to help the EHS&S community successfully manage the workplace risks and impacts of the Covid-19 (and any future) pandemic in the workplace. We welcome you to access our Covid-19 resources to help your efforts and to contact us directly.

Extending The Digital EHS&S Platform for Covid-19 Response & Risk Mitigation – Practical Perspectives

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